Sheryl Swoopes, a four-time WNBA champion and three-time WNBA MVP, spoke at length about Caitlin Clark during a recent appearance on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast, which is hosted by former NBA star Gilbert Arenas.
Caitlin Clark, for those of you who aren’t aware, plays guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. She is the NCAA Division I women's all-time leading scorer and is regarded as one of the greatest players in college basketball history.
She is also white, which set Swoopes off. In spite of all of Clark's accomplishments, Swoopes couldn’t contain her jealousy and, rather than congratulate her and say some kind words, allowed her racism to show.
Kelsey Plum set that record in four years. Well, Caitlin should have broke that record in four years, but because there was a Covid year and another year, you know what I mean? She’s already had an extra year to break that record, so is it truly a broken record?
Amazingly, Arenas agreed and said the current college game should be “a whole separate entity.” This tells you all you need to know about his podcast.
When asked about how Catlin’s game will translate to the WNBA, the jealous Swoopes stated that Clark will not be able to take 40 shots a game like she does now.
Then the cherry on top of her pile of lies was this beauty: She claimed that Clark dominates the competition because she is “a 25-year-old playing against 20-year-olds.”
A clip of Sheryl talking about Caitlin Clark went viral. But I see yall tried to bury this one
— Future Of The Retro (@TraeK_) February 4, 2024
If ANYBODY else was this loud and wrong with misinformation yall woulda lit this app on fire. But since its about CC yall pretended it didnt happen. Nasty 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/jKvRRIMfF9
Ok, let’s start dismantling Swoopes' pile of dung. First, Clark has only played for four years; she has not had an extra year. In fact, Plum scored her record 3,527 points over 139 games in four seasons. Clark broke her record in 125 games.
Next, Clark doesn’t take 40 shots per game. She is averaging 22.3 field goal attempts per game this season and 19.7 in her collegiate career.
As for Swoopes' claim that Clark is 25 playing against 20-year-olds, she just turned 22 in January.
It’s easy to pull lies out of the air, because there are always people who will buy into the nonsense.
Swoopes defended herself this week against accusations of racism following her bitter tirade against Clark by declaring that "black people can't be racist."
The belief that black people cannot be racist is a foundational part of Critical Race Theory (CRT), particularly Ibram X. Kendi’s teaching of the concept.
Kendi believes black people do not possess the structural power to oppress white people, therefore nothing they do to or say about a white person shall qualify as "racist." White people, according to CRT, control all U.S. institutions and have thus used said inherent power to limit the success rate of black Americans.
CRT portrays blacks as victims who have the right to do as they please because of wrongs done to them in the past.
Some of most powerful players in basketball are black: LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, for example. Some of the loudest voices in the media covering basketball are also black: Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith.
Last year, Nikola Jokic was heavily favored to win the MVP award. Yet, his odds plummeted after Kendrick Perkins disgustingly accused voters of holding a racial bias in favor of white players. In fact, of the last 34 MVPs, only five were white; the rest were black.
In an incident last year, Angel Reese of LSU aggressively approached Caitlin Clark and held her hand in front of her face (meaning: “you can't see me”), before pointing to her ring finger, the place her newly acquired championship ring would be. If the gesture had been done in reverse, Clark would have been widely criticized. Instead, Reese’s actions were defended.
NBA player Montrezl Harrell calling Luka Doncic a "bitch ass white boy" brought no outrage, but again reverse the situation and it would still be in the news. Even worse, several black players have recently resorted to violence against white players.
In December, Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors version of a hockey enforcer, slapped Jusuf Nurkic, a white player, in the face. This was just the most recent incident involving Green. On his podcast at the time, Arenas suggested that he was fine with what happened and called for more violence against white players, saying: "Taking care of these Europeans one at a time. … Do your thing!"
Last night, Draymond Green slapped white player Jusuf Nurkic in the face.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 13, 2023
Former NBA star Gilbert Arena is calling for more violence against white players:
"Taking care of these Europeans one at a time… Do your thing!"
His co-hosts agree.
pic.twitter.com/3f99HNBAMX
There are professional button pushers. Former players Perkins and Arenas said last year that there are black players who think white players are not skilled enough to compete on the court with black players and must rely upon systemic advantages to compete. Even Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb, who is white, stated: "Most black [people] (and a lot of white guys) think white guys can’t hoop and need special treatment in order to be viewed on the same level."
Many derive these opinions not from personal experience, but from societal feelings and pressure. Sports leagues are now well integrated and, in most cases, dominated by mutual respect and appreciation of the talent of all who are involved regardless of race.
This trend toward racial tension in basketball leagues is the result of a more divisive culture and the rise of legitimate white superstars. Many argue that Jokic and Luca are the two best players in the world, and there is no denying the greatness of Caitlin Clark.
Both Dan Dakich and Jason Whitlock have warned that Clark could be the victim of the same level of indignation, and perhaps even violence, as white NBA players when she enters the WNBA next season.
She's going to face a level of racism from black players, and she's going to face a level of hostility from lesbian players because she's not on team LGBTQ. She's a Catholic and she's got some boyfriend, which means she's going to walk into an extremely hostile environment, said Whitlock.
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